If you are great at what you do; ideating concepts and transforming them into captivating visuals yet few sales come your way then this post is for you.
The problem as you’ve figured out isn’t your skill, it’s a mix of several factors which we break down in this in-depth post and provide solutions for fixing them immediately.
First understand: Great products don’t mean great sales
It’s wrong to believe sales come just because you have great skill as reality proves otherwise; there are millions of designers with less design power earning juicy figures and designers with stronger skills struggling to wing design as a business.
It’s not a matter of how great your skills are; it’s a matter of how great your philosophy towards business is and digging for industry secrets that dramatically increase your sales.
Read below for never before heard tips to revolutionize your sales and finally bring in those deserved numbers.
5 Reasons why Clients aren’t Trooping Through Your Front door
- You are selling to the wrong crowd
- You aren’t socially selling
- You don’t have a Strategy for landing sales.
- Your storytelling is flawed
- Your offer is overly complicated
Let’s break this down carefully in the following paragraphs
1. You Are Selling to The Wrong Crowd
Graphic design is a service required for everyone but this doesn’t mean you cater to everyone.
Think about it: If you sell to everyone but your clients don’t e.g. they have specific audiences, pain points, and therefore needs. If you appeal to these then you service a need. Do the opposite and you lose out.
How to fix it.
Determine who you and your business cater to e.g. Do you service fellow designers as a mentor coach or trainer? Do you service clients as a web designer, logo maker, or flier creator?
Create audience-specific messages. If your targets are small businesses then your messaging needs to reflect that. E.g. A LinkedIn profile that says designer for small-medium sized businesses not designer on a mission.
Result
By making your stance clear you position yourself as a solution. Your skill can be used by anyone to elevate their visuals but your clients aren’t general and by making specific messages you increase your relevance and ultimately sales.
2. You Aren’t Social Selling
Social selling is the process of establishing and building connections with audiences. It’s not just dropping a hire me post but proactively seeking out potential customers and engaging them.
Essentially, you informing clients that you are hirable and you avoid waiting for them to come to you while you may have been told connecting with audiences is not always about marketing your products, here’s another truth people only buy what people sell and if you never do the former no one will do it for you.
How to sell effectively
Selling online is a process of prospecting, targeting, and nurturing. It’s not a drop “ hire me post once a day and certainly not a
Prospecting: Look for organizations, companies, and people who need your service.
Targeting: Check their socials for poor-quality graphics, design something better, and introduce yourself, your enhanced visuals, and the problem it could solve
Nurturing: If leads don’t become clients, still discuss with them e.g. via newsletter, or broadcast messages containing useful visual tips for businesses.
The result
Reaching out to clients is a surefire way to increase your sales. Most clients appreciate messages detailing their problems and solutions(your enhanced messages) and will remember you for this.
However only 2 percent of first-time leads become customers right away, this means if you don’t nurture up by emails or DMs you miss 98 percent of sales.
3. No Sales Strategy
A solid strategy is intensely executed to deliver expected results. But what exactly is a strategy?
First off a strategy for graphic designers is beyond a plan to increase sales but a course of action and identification of tools and channels to execute them.
A plan: Getting 10 sales a week from customers on Linkedin
A Strategy: Cold-emailing businesses on Linkedin.
The difference between the two is intent and execution. Until your plan has a channel of execution it’s completely unattainable!
How to fix this
Have you been making plans or none at all here’s how to fix quickly and witness a change in sales
Identify how much time can be devoted to sales
Think of where your ideal customers are located
Identify tools for reaching out e.g. email hunters, DM’s cold emailing, or calling.
Result
The design world is filled with businesses vying for the attention of your ideal customer with razor-sharp plans. With a strategy, you can cut across the noise and make your sales process a series of established steps leading to a desired outcome.
4. Your Story Telling Does Not Have Your Customers Inside it
Humans are hardwired to recognize themselves first in any setting like in photographs where we look for ourselves first.
It’s the same with the content you put out there.; people want to see themselves in what you say, feel related, and spoken to.
If your content isn’t doing this, if you are only speaking about how great your skills are or your passion for design then you are selling to yourself and there’s no other person in your story.
How to fix it
Research and understand your ideal customer’s circumstance e.g pain points, goals, mission, and products
Create content e.g visuals or captions to include these features and how your service is the solution
Share testimonials of similar businesses that achieved their desires by hiring you
Result
Clients purchase services useful and relatable to their needs. When storytelling describes these needs accurately, clients believe you have an understanding and then reach out.
How to fix this
5. Your Offer is Overly Complicated
An overly complicated system of onboarding could be your greatest threat to why you have low sales.
Emmanuel Aninyei an NGD member described his experience when contacting a designer for a visual. “ I asked for his rate card and he went on and on asking me about the industry he would be creating for and where it would be used. I then went on to designers who simply gave me rate cards at a go, I didn’t have time for too much talk”
Designers clearly defined systems of working e.g. timelines for deliverables stand higher chances of landing sales.
Oftentimes, your client is communicating with several designers fishing for the best deal, and time spent talking instead of quickly answering easily puts someone else in the front seat.
If your rules for working are difficult e.g. An 80 percent down payment, you could lose out to designers with simpler requirements e.g. 40-50 percent down payments.
How to fix it
Research payment or onboarding terms of fellow designers.
Stick with the top 5 most common provided they are good
Establish clear systems based on this and work accordingly
Be ready sometimes to adapt these rules depending on what’s in it for you e.g. making your #5,000k charge #4,500 if 10 designs are involved.
Start Selling Like crazy To End the Drought spell
Design is a crucial skill;80% of small businesses say it’s important to their branding/marketing goals. This means it’s a powerful instrument and you can wing design as a business.
What’s crucial is having a selling mechanism beyond posting daily on social media.
This means You are either: Researching businesses who need your service, reaching out to them, or maintaining connections with them consistently for future sales!
Quick secret: At this point, your skill set doesn’t matter if you nail the selling system right.
Don’t be scared of reaching out, overcome the marketing fear designers have, and start implementing the tips mentioned in this article to 2x your sales now.
Some Useful Articles to Comb Through
Cold-emailing for Graphic designers
Social media for Graphic designers